Tuesdays are "I Tried It Tuesdays" where I'll tell you about something I recently tried -- an item, a movie, an activity, etc.

Today's topic: Google Reader

What it is: It's a Web-based aggregator, capable of reading Atom and RSS feeds online or offline. Allow me to translate -- it's a Web page you can go to that compiles all the blogs you read into one easy place. So, instead of going to the url for every blog you read, you can go to this one url (www.google.com/reader) and see all of the blogs you "subscribe" to in one location.

How it works: You create a google reader account (free and easy). You then subscribe to your favorite blog's RSS feeds using either Google Reader's search function, or by entering in the exact URL of the RSS feed. Translation: go to the blog you love, copy and past the URL into the "add new blog" box on Google Reader and voila!

Why I love it:
* No bookmarking or keeping track of blogs in a "favorites" folder.
* It travels with me -- wherever I am, I log into my google reader and get my list of blogs.
* It highlights updated entries -- so I can see, at a glance, which blogs have been updated with new entries and read just those.
* I can read the blogs (and the comments) without ever leaving Google Reader.
* As is the google way -- the site's design is clean, simple and clutter-free.
* You can choose between a list view or an expanded view (You can see just the title of the entry..the first few paragraphs or the entire thing...it's up to you).
* You can choose how to view your posts -- by list of date or relevance. You can also go nuts and get all organized with labels (though..honestly, I haven't had time to mess with all those things and I only read about 10 blogs anyway..so it's not like I can't handle them).